


Love, If Your Wings Are Broken

by James_Alianovna_Wilson_Rogers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Accords still did but not CW, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Civil War didn’t really happen, Im not good with that kind of thing, M/M, Multi-chapter but don’t expect update promises, Not really Steve friendly? Kinda, Protective Tony, Slightly Beta read (by my sister), Soft Bucky, There aren't enough of those fics, Wingfic, okay that’s it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 18:05:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19045627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/James_Alianovna_Wilson_Rogers/pseuds/James_Alianovna_Wilson_Rogers
Summary: The Sokovian Accords had been revised, argued over, and put into action. Steve and his buddies have been pardoned, and Bucky Barnes had a fair trial in which he was found not guilty.Everyone moved into the Tower (shush, I like it better than the compound) and are living happily.Oh yeah, one more thing... everyone has wings.Well... almost everyone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first multi-chapter fic I’ve posted, and only the third fic in general. Don’t expect it to be very good, I am not as confident in my writing skills for stories as I am essays for English class. 
> 
> Semi-regular updates? I’m a very busy gal. And by that I mean I am a prime candidate for writer’s block and might not write a new chapter until I suddenly get this amazing idea out of nowhere. And then proceed to have no idea how to write it out.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy.

Everyone had wings. Big, grey wings, small white wings, middle-sized brown wings. Bird wings, angel wings. Some even had fairy wings and dragon wings. That was ridiculously rare, though.

Your wings were the doorway to your soul. The more hurt and heartbroken you were, the worse your wings got. They lost feathers, they got scratches, they became dull and grimy. If it was bad enough, they would even start to bleed from large open wounds. 

Showing your wings to someone else was a sign of trust. Letting someone see right into your soul was hard, and was usually only done among family. 

In the Avengers, there were specific people Tony trusted to see his wings, them being Natasha, Bruce, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, Clint, and Thor. Steve and Wanda were a hard no, after Ultron and the whole Accords thing. Natasha’s wings were a beautiful reddish-brown. They weren’t too big, but weren’t by any means small either. Plenty of scars littered their span, but the feathers were bright and shiny. She was happy there. 

Bruce had small brown wings that had black feathers mixed in. Scars and patches of missing feathers were all over, but the ones left were also shiny. Clint had tiny white ones, and usually dressed up as Cupid for Halloween. It was hilarious. The archer was laidback about showing his feathered appendages, and could often be found lounging on the couch with his shirt off and his wings spread out.

Rhodey had large, light grey ones that were neat and well-kept. Their feathers were shiny and clean. 

Tony’s own wings were a very dark, almost black grey-blue color. They were huge, dragging across the floor when he was tired from a full 72 hours up and they drooped slightly. He used them as blankets in bed, wrapping them around himself until he was completely covered in comfy, albeit dull and bent feathers. 

When Steve brought Barnes home, the man kept to himself, slipping silently out of a room when one too many people entered it and made the environment hard to bear. Steve pestered the assassin about letting his wings out, constantly flaunting his own huge red and white wings around his buddy as an exaggerated show of trust. Tony saw how it just made Barnes uncomfortable, often seeing the minute flinches and longing glances cast whenever someone had their wings out.

The inventor wondered what the story was there, but knew it wasn’t his place to ask.


	2. Borrow Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Bucky enter a relationship. They have a VERY tiny misunderstanding about Tony’s wings, and then our favorite inventor learns the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *promises to update the day after I posted*
> 
> Also me: *completely forgets about the fic until I happen to open my notes app to work on a different one*
> 
> Anyways, sorry for the small delay. Enjoy.

He and Barnes had started hanging around each other in the lab. Tony liked showing off his inventions, and found that Bucky was the only one besides Bruce who was really able to keep up in tech talk. They debated with each other about mechanics and science, often working side-by-side on some projects if Tony offered. 

They entered a relationship months later, going on outings and dates to parks or restaurants. Bucky brought Tony to Coney Island and proceeded to win the genius multiple stuffed animals on any game related to shooting or throwing things. Tony in turn won the brunette an Iron Man Tsum Tsum from the prize corner when they went to an arcade. Barnes didn’t put it down for two days afterwards.

Tony started showing Bucky his wings. Just a bit at a time, a few random instances. His boyfriend seemed to sadden each time he saw them. Tony’s first thought was that he was upset about how horrible his blue wings looked. Maybe he was sad because someone hurt Tony?

He thought that for a while. Until he decided to surprise Bucky by coming home early from a meeting that went very quickly. 

The genius was almost completely silent when he entered the penthouse, the elevator doors opening with no sound at all courtesy of JARVIS. He headed down the hallway, looking into the kitchen and living room. His boyfriend was in neither. Must be in the bedroom.

Tony walked down the other hall and into their room. The bathroom light was on, casting Bucky’s shadow across the floor of the dark bedroom. Tony went towards the door, stepping in and leaning against the doorpost and-

Froze. His shirtless boyfriend, previously standing infront of the mirror, was huddled against the wall opposite Tony, and his wings- his poor, beautiful wings- were... nonexistent, ending in mangled stumps just above the joint. Tony pressed his hand to his mouth, stepping forwards and reaching out with the other. Bucky flinched back as if expecting to be hit, and Tony’s heart broke just that little bit more. 

“Bucky... oh, honey...” He murmured, slowly moving forwards until he was infront of his boyfriend. Ice blue eyes peaked up at him, insecurities, fear, and a sliver of anger all wrapped up as one and coated inside tears. Tony tugged the brunette to his chest, wrapping his arms around him tightly. 

“Oh tesoro,” Tony whispered. The front of the genius’s shirt became wet with tears, but he didn’t notice, too intent on expressing all of his love for Bucky in that moment. 

“What happened, il mio cuore? What happened to those wings of yours?” 

“H-HYDRA.” 

“Gattino... I will destroy them all for you, il mio amore. They will never touch you again. Do they hurt badly?” He asked, looking down at heartbroken blue eyes. 

“Everyday.” The assassin whispered back. Tony made a half-growl-half-pained whimper, hugging his boyfriend tighter for a second before stepping back and leading him to their bed. There, Tony wrapped his wings around both of them, Bucky tucked securely into his chest. 

He’d have to fix this. For now, he’d share his wings as best he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter should be up sometime this week. Writer’s block is almost as much of a bitch as karma is. 
> 
> Constructive criticism is my life force.
> 
> Edit: don’t understand why there are two different end note things, especially when the bottom one was for the last chapter, but whatever.


	3. So Yours Can Open, Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony does a nice thing, Bucky likes too-big hoodies, and Clint should probably stop climbing in the vents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof sorry for the wait. It’s been a very busy week. There are three bdays in my family happening from Sunday to Tuesday because our parents are all drama queens and had me, my cousin, and my sibling all one day after another (give or take five years). 
> 
> But here ya go. The ending of this one was written while I was sleep deprived and dying of death, but my dumb brain thought it was funny at the time so it happened.

As soon and as often as he could, Tony took to his lab, drawing up blueprints and elaborate designs for a pair of wing prosthetics. Each design was cast aside almost as soon as they were thought up. ‘They could always be better’ was his mantra. Bucky deserved only the best. 

Speaking of Bucky, whenever his boyfriend came down to visit, JARVIS warned him so he could pull up a different project. The wings had to be a secret. They were a surprise. 

And finally, FINALLY, they were done. Real feathers, collected from willing donors both in the tower and out of them, as well as himself. They were patterned to look like magpie wings, beautiful black and white and blue melding together to form a gorgeous, magnificent wingspan of almost Tony’s entire height each. 

The structure was made of vibranium that T’Challa, king of Wakanda, generously gifted to him. The framework was sturdy, but hollow, and would absorb and cancel out shockwaves from anything that happened to hit them. The inventor was almost certain they’d be able to fly just as well as the few people- including him- who could. 

They would attach via surgery and actually connect to Bucky’s nerve endings so that he could move them by himself. It was much like the idea of the prosthetic HYDRA so brutally created. 

“Hey, J? Could you tell Bucky to come down here and join me? Don’t tell him anything else, though.” Tony asked, head tilted towards the ceiling even though his eyes stayed focused on the hologram in front of him. 

“Of course, Sir. Sergeant Barnes is on his way down.” 

And true to form, the elevator doors opened a second later, revealing his adorable boyfriend snuggled up in a hoodie twice his size. Tony sighed, completely filled to the brim with love. 

“Tones? JARVIS said you needed me for something?” The brunette said after a second, and Tony realized he’d been staring for almost two minutes. 

“Right! Sorry. I bet you’ve noticed I’ve been down here a lot more and for longer, and I’m sorry if it seemed like I was avoiding you or neglecting you somehow, because I swear I wasn’t. It doesn’t matter now. I have a surprise for you.” The genius rambled for a second before shaking his head and pressing a button on a remote. A glass case with the wings carefully folded inside it rose from a platform in the floor.

Tony hopefully watched Bucky’s shocked face, waiting for a reaction. 

“Holy shit... are... are these..?” 

“Yeah. All yours, babe. If you want em.” 

Between one second and the next, Bucky had somehow crossed the room and thrown himself into Tony’s arms, whispering a litany of ‘thank you’s. 

“There are some things we need to talk about. Like how they’d have to get connected to you via surgery, and how they’ll move like real wings once that happens. But we can go over that later, if you’d like.” 

They stood there in each other’s arms until Clint fell out of the vent above them and landed on the tool table, which launched something or other through the air, which set something on fire, prompting the three robots into a frenzy where Butterfingers and U ran into things and DUM-E sprayed a fire extinguisher everywhere but the fire.

Yep.


	4. Cause I’m

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big surgery finally happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry it took me this long to update. I had the biggest case of writer’s block while writing this fic. Meanwhile, of course, I had only new ideas for a ton of other ones I’m working on. 
> 
> It’s finally here, though, and the next (and final) chapter is also written. That one will be posted tomorrow. First multi-chapter fic I’ve ever posted on AO3, and it’s already coming to a close. Kind of sad. Sorry if this chapter seems short.
> 
> Enjoy, though!

“We’ve created a type of anesthesia that’s powerful enough to put even the Hulk to sleep in a high enough dose. We’re using just a bit here, so you’ll be asleep the entire time. We have Bruce here, as well as Dr. Cho and Dr. Strange. And I’ll be right here with you the entire time, so don’t you worry.” Tony murmured, smiling gently down at Bucky, who was propped up on the surgical table at an angle so the surgeons could access his back.

“Thank you, Tones. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

“There is nothing more important to me than your happiness, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a few hours, yeah?” 

The sedative was administered, and the procedure began.

The procedure began and lasted nearly 17 hours. It was brutal and taxing and Tony’s legs would ache for forever.

But it was worth it to sit at his boyfriend’s bedside in the medical wing at the Tower with JARVIS monitoring his vitals. It was worth it to see Bucky’s grey eyes blink open just three hours after the surgery, to see the wonder in them as he took in the big wings held up on either side of him by the stands every hospital had whenever someone’s wings were damaged. 

It was worth it when, due to enhanced healing, the slings and bandages were removed a month later. It was worth it to see those beautiful wings twitch and shift, a sign that the nerves were connected correctly.

Months of physical therapy and training, all worth it. 

All so they two, right at this moment, could stand together at the edge of a cliff in a hiking trail in upstate New York, and stretch their wings in preparation to fly. 

“Ready?” Tony asked, glancing at his boyfriend.

“Ready.” Bucky confirmed, reaching for Tony’s hand. 

They fell together. 

And then....

They flew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t forget to leave a comment. Constructive criticism is my life force.


	5. Gonna Stand By You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that this chapter was written at 3 AM in the morning (as most of my stuff is) and I honestly can barely remember half of it.
> 
> Thank you all so much for sticking by as I wrote this. Took over a month, but it’s finally done.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the joining in love of these two young men. Before we start, I ask for anyone who objects to this marriage speak now.”

Nothing but friends and family smiling at them.

Bucky had proposed on that very same cliff, a year after their first flight. They’d opted to have a small, private wedding, with just their family around them. No reporters, no news coverages, nothing. 

“Anthony, your vows, please.”

“James Barnes, we definitely got off to a rocky start. You were still a ghost in our home, and I was an over busy man with no time or interest for anything but my inventions. I still am, that isn’t going to change. But now I have more than one interest. You’ve wiggled your way into my ice cold heart and set up camp. Not that I’d even think about trying to evict you. You’re stuck with me for life now. But I just want you to know that even though we’ve had some rough patches and even though we both have more than enough trauma to fill up multiple psych wards- seriously, we should probably invest in some therapists- I love you now and I will continue to love you until the universe ceases to exist.” 

“James, now you.”

“Anthony Edward Stark, this is gonna be short because I am definitely not good with words-“

“Shut up, you’re a poet.” Tony whispered.

“Shush. When I was writing this, I had multiple moments of panic. Not because I didn’t know what to say, or because there wasn’t anything TO say, but because... because there was so much. So many things happen in our lives. Dangerous things. We could all be eaten by giant flying spiders right now, you never know. My point is, we’ll never be able to look into the future. We’ll never be able to guarantee our safety. And that’s why I love you and will continue to love you like I could lose you at any second.” 

And fuck, if that didn’t damn near make Tony burst into giant, ugly sobs right there because this man- THIS MAN- loved him.

“Bring forth the rings! Anthony, repeat after me; I, Anthony Stark.”

“I, Anthony Stark.”

“Take you.”

“Take you.”

“James Barnes, as my husband.”

“James Barnes, as my husband.”

“I will love and cherish you.”

“I will love and cherish you.”

“In wealth and poverty.”

“In wealth and poverty.”

“In sickness and in health.”

“In sickness and in health.”

“As long as we both shall live.”

“As long as we both shall live.” Tony promised as he slid the ring onto Bucky’s finger.

“James, repeat after me; I, James Barnes, take you.”

“I, James Barnes, take you.”

“Anthony Stark, as my husband.”

“Anthony Stark, as my husband.”

“I will love and cherish you.” 

“I will love and cherish you.” 

“In wealth and in poverty.”

“In wealth and in poverty.”

“In sickness and in health.”

“In sickness and in health.”

“For as long as we both shall live.”

“For as long as we both shall live.” And Tony received his promise.

“You may may now seal this marriage with a kiss.” The officiate exclaimed, shutting the giant book in their hands with a loud thump that seemed to snap the couple out of their happy daze.

Kiss they did. Roughly. When they finally broke apart, the rest of the team was loudly whooping and whistling. 

The husbands looked at eachother and simultaneously turned, walking down the steps to the alter with joined hands.

They were starting a new chapter of their life together. And they’d each stand by the other until the entire book was finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism. Y’all know I live off it. Feed me, Seymour.


End file.
